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Design of the Space Frame Racing Car Front Clip and Rear Clip for
Torsional Rigidity
Weerawut Charubhun
Engineer, Research and Development Institute of Industrial Production Technology (RDiPT),
Faculty of Engineering, Kasetsart University, Bangkok, 10900, Thailand
Tel. 0-29428567-70 Ext. 503 Fax. 0-29428571 E-mail: weerawut_c@yahoo.com
and
Supasit Rodkwan
Deputy Director, RDiPT and Lecturer, Department of Mechanical Engineering,
Faculty of Engineering, Kasetsart University, Bangkok, 10900, Thailand
Tel. 0-29428555 Ext. 1803 E-mail: fengssr@ku.ac.th
Abstract
To improve the speed performance in a racing
car industry, the need to use a latest development on
computer modeling and simulation to assist the race
car design has been increased recently in the past
years. In this paper, the Computer Aided Engineering
(CAE) technology was applied to design and to
analyze the structural members of the space frame
front clip and rear clip which greatly dominate the
handling performance of a racing car. Various
modifications of the front clip and the rear clip
structures were carried out along with a designed
cockpit. The optimum design was then identified
based on the torsional rigidity and the torsional
rigidity per weight ratio determined from the Finite
Element Analysis (FEA) technique. The final design
of a spaceframe racing car was determined using
these optimized parameters. The selected structure
provides great improvement on the torsional rigidity
and the torsional rigidity per weight ratio leading to
better racing car performance.
1. Introduction
Handling performance of a race car is mostly
accounted on a torsional rigidity of a chassis, a
suspension geometry, and weight. Increased torsional
rigidity of a race car chassis improves vehicle
handling by allowing the suspension components to

control a larger percentage of a vehicles kinematics

[1].
By using a spaceframe chassis in a race car, the
high torsional rigidity can be achieved as well as its
light weight. The torsional rigidity of a spaceframe
can be increased by placing more frame members
strategically. Nevertheless, the weight of the
spaceframe chassis is increased as additional frame
members are installed. Race care designers must
optimize those two parameters to yield the optimum
performance of their race car.
The main goal of this study is to develop a
method of improving a race car spaceframe chassis.
The research specifically focuses on the front clip
and the rear clip structures. In order to achieve this
task, the chassis design principle will be studied.
Various modifications of the front clip and the rear
clip structures models will then be created using the
Computer Aided Design (CAD) software. Next, the
torsional rigidity of the chassis models will be
evaluated using the Finite Element Analysis (FEA)
technique. Finally, the final chosen design of the
spaceframe front clip and rear clip will be proposed
by the maximum value of the torsional rigidity per
weight ratio.
2. Chassis Description
The main components of the spaceframe
chassis are a front clip, a cockpit and a rear clip as

depicted in Figure 1. The standard cockpit consists of

a chassis floor, a roof, side bars, front and rear
firewalls as shown in Figure 2.
In this study, the circular tube members with a
specified outside diameter of 38 mm and a wall
thickness of 2.3 mm are used for a roof, front and
rear firewalls and side bars of the designed cockpit.
The chassis floor is constructed using 50.8 x 50.8
mm square tubes with 2.3 mm thickness.
Front clip

Rear clip

Cockpit

Figure 1. Example of chassis main components.

Roof
Rear firewall
Side bars

Front firewall

Figure 4. The strategy on positioning a spaceframe

member [3].
The triangulated box imparts strength by
stressing the diagonal in tension and compression
[6]. The box is no longer easily deformed by bending
force. Therefore, race car chassis designers usually
design their spaceframe chassis in triangulated
format. Figure 5., 6., and 7. show the triangulated
spaceframe chassis from various race car
manufacturers.

Chassis floor

Figure 2. Cockpit components.

3. Chassis Design Principle
The fundamental principle of a chassis design
states that the chassis is to be designed to achieve
adequate torsional rigidity and light weight in order to
achieve a good handling performance of a race car.
Torsional Rigidity (TR) is an ability to resist
twisting force or torque. In the other words, torsional
rigidity is the amount of torque required to twist the
frame by one degree (See Figure 3.).

Figure 5. Example of a spaceframe chassis from

Mracing [4].

Figure 6. Example of a spaceframe chassis from

Juno Racing Ltd. [5].

Figure 3. Torsional rigidity on a race car chassis [3]

By strategically positioning a frame member,
torsional rigidity increases remarkably. The principle
is to place the frame members in a triangulated
format as shown in Figure 4.

Figure 7. Example of a spaceframe chassis from

AutoZine Techincal School [6].

As mentioned before, the weight of the

spaceframe chassis is increased as more frame
members are installed. The torsional rigidity per
weight ratio (TR/W) is then calculated to assist in
selecting appropriate combinations of additional
spaceframe members.
4. Determination of the Torsional Rigidity
The actual torsional rigidity of a completed
chassis can be measured by twisting a frame with a
known torque as shown in Figure 8. The torque is
generated by actuators attached to the frame rails at
a point in the vicinity of the front suspension pick-up
points. The rear suspension spring mounts are fixed
to the fixtures that bolted to the ground while the
torqueses are applied. The displacement at the point
that attaches to the actuator is then measured by a
dial gauge.

Figure 8. Practical method of determining the

torsional rigidity of a spaceframe of a
NASCAR chassis [4].
After collecting the empirical displacement data,
the torsional rigidity of a spaceframe can be found as
stated in equations (1) and (2) [1], [2].

d
Figure 9. Force diagram for a torsional rigidity.

TR =

Fd

(1)

= Torsional Rigidity (N-m/degree)

F = Reaction force (N)
d = Lateral distance between left and right
supports (m)
= Twist angle (degree)
TR

and
=

2
d

180

(2)

= Displacement at the point that the reaction

force is applied (m)

5 Finite Element Analysis of a Spaceframe Chassis

The initial chassis geometry was constructed
using Unigraphics NX2. The geometry was then
converted to IGES format and transferred to
ABAQUS 6.4.1 to create a finite element model. The
coordinate system is defined such that the positive xaxis is directed toward the rear, the positive y-axis is
directed toward the left along the front lateral crossmember, and positive z axis is perpendicular to this
x-y plane directed up. Linear beam elements are
chosen to model the floor frame member with boxbeam cross-section. The tube members are modeled
using straight pipe elements with circular crosssection. Figure 10. shows the finite element model of
the initial spaceframe chassis. The chassis model
was constructed of steel with material properties
given in Table 1.
Table 1. Material properties of a spaceframe
Modulus of Elasticity
207 MPa
Poissons Ratio
0.3
Weight Density
7800 kg/m3
In addition, the following assumptions are
applied for the chassis model [1]:

Contact of tube members of the chassis,

which may be created by deflection and, as
a result, would interfere with the normal
deflection of those members is ignored in
the FE model [1]

Tube and beam connections were assumed

under the usual structural frame
assumptions of neutral axis intersection,
with full coupling of shear and moments [1].
The material is assumed linearly elastic and
calculations are performed using linear
static analysis with small deformations
resulting in the constant torsional rigidity
prediction [1].

6 Chassis Torsional Rigidity Analysis

In order to evaluate the torsional rigidity of the
chassis, the specified structural boundary conditions
are applied to the model as shown in Figure 10.

A torque is applied to the front suspension

pick up points by applying equal and
opposite vertical forces on the frame rails at
a point in the vicinity of the front suspension
pick-up points on the drivers and the
passengers side. A force F = 3400 N
is applied producing a torque, T = Fd =
1598 N-m, where d = 0.47 m, is the lateral
distance between the driver and the
passenger load application points.

At the rear suspension spring mounts, the

chassis is restrained in all x, y and z
translations (Ux = Uy = Uz = 0) and in lateral
and vertical rotations (y = z = 0), with no
constraints on longitudinal rotation at these
points (x is left free) [1], [2].
These boundary conditions are the
representative of constraints applied by a twist fixture
used by several race car teams to measure torsional
rigidity [1], [2].

Using ABAQUS 6.4.1 to solve the initial

chassis model with those boundary conditions and
constraints, the result revealed that the displacement
in z direction of a point in the vicinity of the front
suspension pick-up points was 1.3213 mm, producing
4962 N-m of a torsional rigidity and 40.40 of a
torsional rigidity per weight ratio where the weight of
the chassis was 122.80 kg.
7. Torsional Rigidity of Alternative Cockpit Design
Using the chassis design principle as a
previously described, various structural modifications
applied to the initial design of a cockpit spaceframe
are considered with the objective of an increased
torsional rigidity. A total of eight design combinations
of front clip and rear clip are considered in this study,
leading to the selection of a final design with
significantly increased torsional rigidity yet only a
small increase in weight.
7.1 Front Clip
A total of four front clips were proposed for
torsional rigidity per weight ratio comparison (See
Figure 11.). The predicted torsional rigidity and
torsional rigidity per weight ratio were shown in Table
2. It is noted that the front clip2 has the highest value
of TR/W of 59.60. N-m/degree/kg.

Front clip1

Front clip2

Front clip3

Front clip4

Ux = Uy = Uz = 0
y = z = 0
x = free

Figure 11. Alternative front clips modified from the

initial spaceframe chassis.

F = - 3400 N

F = + 3400 N

Figure 10. Applied forces, torque and the restraints

used to twist chassis models.

Table 2. Torsional rigidity and torsional rigidity per

weight ratio of the alternative front clips
Front clip1
Front clip2
Front clip3
Front clip4

Weight
(kg)

TR
(N-m/degree)

TR/W
(N-m/degree/kg)

124.71
126.44
126.10
125.33

7306
7536
6765
5606

58.58
59.60
53.65
44.72

7.2 Rear Clip

Four rear clips were evaluated for torsional
rigidity per weight ratio comparison (See Figure 12.).
The predicted torsional rigidity and torsional rigidity
per weight ratio were shown in Table 3. It is noted
that the rear clip4 has the highest value of TR/W of
40.23 N-m/degree/kg.

Rear clip1

Rear clip2

Rear clip3

Rear clip4

Figure 12. Alternative roofs modified from the initial

spaceframe chassis.
Table 3. Torsional rigidity and torsional rigidity per
weight ratio of the alternative rear clips.
Rear clip1
Rear clip2
Rear clip3
Rear clip4

Weight
(kg)

TR
(N-m/degree)

TR/W
(N-m/degree/kg)

125.81
124.70
127.86
127.23

5052
4953
5065
5118

40.15
39.72
39.61
40.23

8. The Final Design of a Spaceframe Racing Car

Each of alternative components of the chassis
was selected by choosing the models that yield
maximum torsional rigidity per weight ratio. The
selected components are chassis types of rear clip2,
and rear clip4. Figure 13. shows the final design of a
spaceframe that gives the torsional rigidity of 7966 Nm/degree with the chassis weight of 130.88 kg based
on those selected combination.

Figure 13. The final design of a spaceframe racing

car.
9. Conclusions
In this research, the CAE technique was applied
to assist a design of a spaceframe racing car front
clip and rear clip. The torsional rigidity and torsional
rigidity per weight ratio of the spaceframe structure
were considered as key parameters. The final
proposed structure yields a torsional rigidity of 7966
N-m/degree and weight of 130.88 kg which give a
ratio of torsional rigidity and weight of 60.87 Nm/degree/kg.
10. References
[1] Lonny L Thomson, et. al., Design of a Twist
Fixture to Measure the Torsional Stiffness of a
Winston Cup Chassis, SAE Paper No. 983054,
Motorsports Engineering Conference and Exposition,
Dearborn, Michigan, November 16-19,1998.
[2] Lonny L Thomson, et. al., 1998, Design of a
Winston Cup Chassis for Torsional Stiffness, SAE
Paper No. 983053, Motorsports
Engineering
Conference and Exposition, Dearborn, Michigan,
November 16-19, 1998.
[3] Internet Resource: http://www.gmecca.com/byorc/
dtipschassis.html#ChasisGeneral
[4] Internet Resource: http://www.m-mracing.com/
[5] Internet Resource: http://www.junoracing.co.uk/
The-Car/
[6] Internet Resource: http://www.autozine.kyul.net/te
chnical_school/chassis/tech_chassis.htm